Why I Love Holistic Health Knowledge But Refuse To Be Neurotic About Chasing The Ideal

Call it “bro science,” “wives tales,” “holistic healing,” “esoteric health,” or whatever other name you’d like, if you spend any time on the internet, you’re likely to come across a wealth of health and wellness advice from anonymous (or very public) users online. Sometimes they cite peer-reviewed studies, while other times they simply rely on anecdotal evidence to prove a point. It’s the new hill they’ll die on, and in an ever-worsening attention economy where we’ve become classically trained to seek quick hits of serotonin boosts from clicks, views, comments, and likes, some people fall addicted to the chase, creating an entire persona to peddle their wellness movement.

LARPers Probably Don’t Follow These Extreme Lifestyles

I won’t name too many names, but think about recent scandals which have made national news, like the Liver King. In case you missed it, fitness influencer Brian Johnson, who went by the nickname “Liver King,” claimed his beefy physique was sculpted by an ancestral diet and lifestyle, and most definitely not by using any steroids. Turns out that despite eating raw organ meats on camera, the Liver King really did inject nearly $12,000 worth of pharmaceutical human growth hormones (HGH) every month. The ostentatious persona he adopted online, in interviews, and while crafting his company, Ancestral Supplements, was a marvelous marketing ploy, but alas, it was really more of a LARP.

Ringleaders for esoteric health communities create the foundation for followers to develop their own personas and spread health and wellness knowledge. The barrier to entry is low, and since you can mostly say whatever you want online, there’s no stopping you from proclaiming that you’re a health expert without having any significant experience in the field whatsoever. That’s not to say that people with smaller platforms or alternative educational backgrounds lack valuable advice, but we should really be wary about the caricaturization of holistic knowledge. It actually could backfire and lead people to feel turned off by genuinely well-intended advice, judging it more as a joke.

As is the case with Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, TikTok is rife with esoteric health content. In one video by TikTok user @holistoco.katie, a functional diagnostic nutritional practitioner and registered holistic nutritionist, she shares products you should detox your body from. While there’s truth behind a fair amount of what she says, there are also a few questionable comments made. 

For example, Katie explains that conventional candles are “gonna produce lots of cancer-causing chemicals” like benzene, formaldehyde, and fragrance. Studies have shown that scented candles (and particularly the paraffin wax variety) produce unsafe vapors if inhaled at high doses, but that it’s more comparable to a “teaspoon’s worth of a chemical” poured into an “Olympic-sized swimming pool.” 

Is it good to avoid conventional candles? Probably. There are plenty of alternatives (coconut wax, beeswax, or soy wax) that may not trigger asthma, sensitivities, or contribute to cancer. Are you going to need a detox if you’ve been around a conventional candle lately? Probably not.

Furthermore, can we really “flush out” toxins from our bodies? In Katie’s video, she goes on to explain how toxic tap water can be with the “loads of heavy metals in it” alongside pesticides, herbicides, pharmaceuticals, fluoride, and chlorine. That’s a pretty broad statement to make, given everyone lives in different cities which fall under different water districts.

In California, for instance, the State Water Resources Control Board actually has a map that color codes water systems based on how safe they are from not-at-risk to failing. The range is broad and varies from place to place. Some communities struggle with genuinely toxic drinking water, while others really don’t. Is the answer to drink detox tea made with cumin, coriander, and fennel seeds boiled with black pepper and turmeric? It would be lovely if lead exposure from tap water could be solved with TikTok teas and tinctures, but there really isn’t evidence to prove this, so it shouldn’t be your main solution.

How about if your body can “detox” from the common herbicide glyphosate through glycine supplements? Glycine is a neurotransmitter and amino acid found in collagen, which has been found to help with diabetes symptoms, metabolic problems, and even sleep. If there’s truth to the recent CDC analysis, which shows that about 87% of 650 child participants had detectable levels of glyphosate in their urine, you might be wondering what you can do to prevent your own body from being harmed by this toxic herbicide.

“Glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide in the country, yet until now, we had very little data on exposure,” explained Alexis Temkin, Ph.D., EWG toxicologist. “Children in the U.S. are regularly exposed to this cancer-causing weedkiller through the food they eat virtually every day.”

While we need to take glyphosate exposure pretty seriously, consider that your typical dosage for glycine supplements is anywhere from 2-5g of glycine per pop. Will it hurt to take glycine? No, it might make your body function more smoothly. Will it heal you? Perhaps not. 

If you’re actually experiencing symptoms from glyphosate exposure, you likely need to be taking a much more aggressive treatment approach to reversing the damage than just consuming a supplement that can also be found in the food you eat in the first place. The solution doesn’t lie in partially scientific supplementation and detox drinks; the solution is better policy decisions and a wider array of healthy consumer choices available to prevent the problems in the first place.

A certified nutritionist on TikTok shared her solution to bumps some people have on the backs of their arms: removing gluten from your diet. While some people go gluten-free and the bumps clear up because they genuinely were sensitive to gluten, others are actually just experiencing a genetic trait called keratosis pilaris.

“That’s called keratosis pilaris. It’s an overgrowth of keratin in your skin. It is super common and will go away over time. I have it and had it ever since I was younger. You can minimize the look and feel of it by using a salicylic acid body wash or body scrub. ... Anyway, it will get rid of the bumpiness, but it will eventually grow back. I’m insecure about it on me, but I always remember that 1. It’s super common, and 2. It’s the only skin you’re gonna get so might as well start liking it,” shared an esthetician in the video’s comment section. 

Yes, instead of unnecessarily cutting out gluten immediately and potentially throwing other parts of your body’s normal functions out of whack, you should probably go get real tests done to see whether or not you’re indeed gluten-sensitive or suffer from celiac disease. 

I could go on and on pointing out the variety of well-to-misinformed health advice out there (like this herbal health bomb video where a guy blends turmeric powder, matcha powder, reishi, and black pepper, effectively just eating spices), but there’s just too much out there to cover. What I really want to convey is that “esoteric health” advice can easily veer into “orthorexia nervosa territory,” and speaking from experience, you don’t want to go down that path.

Orthorexic Habits Raise Major Red Flags

Orthorexia nervosa, an eating disorder in which you obsess over the quality or type of food you eat, is one of those things that, in my experience, you think isn’t a problem until you’ve recovered. I’ve shared before how there was a time in my life when I really did fear consuming fats and thought that I’d screw up any hard-earned progress in my fitness transformation. I kid you not, there was a significant period of time where I didn’t touch real peanut butter (it was powdered, reduced-fat peanut butter or bust), didn’t allow myself the joys of full-fat cottage cheese, milk, or yogurt, and certainly didn’t even consider eating avocado. 

Now, I can’t imagine not including peanut butter or raw, cultured butter as staple fats in my grocery list. I share this not because esoteric online health “experts” advise you to go fat-free – quite the opposite, really, most of them strongly advocate for full-fat over non-fat foods – but because the restrictive sentiments around certain foods can lead an innocent person down a self-defeating rabbit hole. Research has shown that food restriction actually makes you want to eat more and that it could slow down your metabolism, throwing you into survival mode.

There are so many health fads that turned out to be total busts, so if we hear about something trendy, we should approach it with a safe dose of skepticism before letting it quickly become our holy grail. At one point, activated charcoal was all the rage, or raw water, or colon cleanses, or cutting out all carbs and going full carnivore, or vitamin IV drips. Something new is always en vogue, and far too often, marketers and social media “experts” alike will hop on a trend and unintentionally (or perhaps intentionally) stoke fear.

Featured in Tucker Carlson’s End of Men documentary, internet user Raw Egg Nationalist is well-known online for posting holistic knowledge. Some of it is incredibly valid, and I find myself agreeing wholeheartedly. That said, some of it truly does stoke fear, like his thread that details a study suggesting that even just one portion of freshwater fish could expose you to a full month of “forever chemicals” such as PFAs. Another user pointed out that this fails to address how all food is actually contaminated with PFAs and the solution isn’t to fall into orthorexic territory by restricting entire foods based on a new study. 

Fish is an incredible source of protein and healthy fats, as well as many vitamins and minerals that Americans can easily become deficient in. Whether intentional or not, fearmongering could influence people to deprive themselves of great food and beverage options. What’s the payoff? Is it just virtue signaling for a few clicks? Is it all just a glorified marketing scheme?

Aspirational Lifestyles Are Just That, Aspirational

Let me briefly reiterate how much I love healthy, natural swaps. I’ve taken myself off hormonal birth control, I’ve stopped buying aluminum antiperspirant, I rarely buy any groceries with seed oils, I don’t use fluoride toothpaste, I savor raw dairy, I regularly rail against Big Pharma, and much more. On the flip side, I also love spending time with my husband, in-laws, or friends at hip, trendy restaurants and don’t want to spend every moment of my meal consumed by anxiety over what type of oil the chashu pork in my ramen might have been cooked in. Good health decisions are a noble choice, but you shouldn’t sacrifice great memories with loved ones over what might just be a fad. As Oscar Wilde said, "Everything in moderation."

Exclusive lifestyles are only sustainable if you’re living in a bubble. Maybe you work from home and have the liberty of isolating your life from a lot of the outside world, but not everyone has that luxury. Placing health and wellness trends on a high pedestal and letting them define your identity is easy to do online, but what happens when you want to travel the world? Will you refuse to try a warm, flaky croissant in France because you didn’t bake it yourself with vetted ingredients? Will you pass on authentic savory jerk chicken while vacationing in Jamaica because you don’t know where the meat was sourced from? 

I have a hard time believing that everyone online who demonstrate very strict, holistic lifestyles actually follow those rules to a tee. If they do, they're likely deficient in other aspects of life. Don’t deny yourself life’s simplest pleasures just to feel like you’re satisfying a new trend; life is simply too short to be consumed by that stress! You need balance.

Let’s also not forget that “esoteric health” products aren’t easily available or affordable for every consumer. We’re currently living through record egg inflation, so do you think it’s realistic for the average American to pony up nearly $10 for a carton of organic, free-range eggs when they’re just trying to keep up with their car payments, mortgages, medical bills, and other living expenses? While I might feel comfortable spending bigger bucks on my favorite raw, cultured butter, I wouldn’t shame someone into thinking that their more affordable Kerrygold or store-brand butter is going to harm their health. 

If someone consuming generic butter means that they’re not putting canola oil into their body, then all the better. If someone consuming a budget cut of beef means they’re not putting Impossible Meat or Beyond Burgers into their body, then all the better. Knowing that 1 in 8 Americans over 50 is addicted to ultra-processed junk foods, which significantly increase cancer risks (especially for women), I’d rather see people practice sustainable, affordable, and, most importantly, simple health habits. 

Unfortunately, some people do need to survive on canned fish or discounted meat, but thank God that at least they have those options, rather than getting their calories from ultra-processed sugary cereals and spicy corn chips. Some people can’t afford to be perfectly holistic, and others simply don’t have time for it. If a working mother needs to be fully present at her job 40 hours a week and then spends the rest of her time caring for her family, I’d be shocked if she also found an hour in the day to scrutinize absolutely every label for her children’s products.

Please continue to support your favorite healthy products. Putting your money where your mouth is can be the best way for those right products to end up in more stores around the nation. It also can help drive down costs in the long run if demand grows higher. Just don’t take an all-or-nothing approach to holistic truth that excludes and even shames normal people for simply living their lives.

Closing Thoughts

Let yourself breathe every now and then. It may sound cliché, but life truly is better with balance. You don’t have to take a 50/50 balance when it comes to allowing yourself unhealthy dietary indulgences or buying a cosmetic or toiletry product that doesn’t have a perfectly clean label. You don’t even have to take a 70/30 balance, but at least allow yourself an 80/20. Holistic habits and health guidance from ancestral knowledge are both valuable, so let’s not allow them to become a caricature or a reason to virtue signal for clout.

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